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This important work constitutes a systematic, nationwide empirical account of the effects of gender on political ambition. Based on data from the Citizen Political Ambition Study, a national survey of 3,800 "potential candidates" conducted by the authors, it relates these findings:
--Women, even at the highest levels of professional accomplishment, are significantly less likely than men to demonstrate ambition to run for elective office.
--Women are less likely than men to be recruited to run for office.
--Women are less likely than men to consider themselves "qualified" to run for office.
--Women are less likely than men to express a willingness to run for a future office.
According to the authors, this gender gap in political ambition persists across generations, despite contemporary society's changing attitudes towards female candidates. While other treatments of gender in the electoral process focus on candidates and office holders, It Takes a Candidate makes a unique contribution to political studies by focusing on the earlier stages of the candidate emergence process and on how gender affects the decision to seek elective office.

First broad national study of potential candidates

Only book treatment of gender and political ambition

Only work to uncover dramatic gender differences in political ambition (rooted in family roles, patterns of recruitment, self-perceived qualifications)

Reviews & endorsements

"It Takes a Candidate offers new evidence and insight on central issues of political representation and democratic politics. Lawless and Fox have executed an important study of the root causes of why women are underrepresented among American officeholders. By investigating political ambition among individuals in feeder occupations, they advance our understanding with new theory and evidence. The book, moreover, is written in a thoroughly engaging and accessible manner and will appeal to anyone curious about patterns critical to the operation of American democracy."
Walter J. Stone, University of California, Davis

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Product details

Date Published: September 2005

format: Paperback

isbn: 9780521674140

length: 220pages

dimensions: 229 x 152 x 14 mm

weight: 0.309kg

contains: 33 tables

availability: In stock

Table of Contents

1. Electoral politics: still a man's world? 2. Explaining women's emergence in the political arena 3. The gender gap in political ambition 4. Barefoot, pregnant and holding a law degree: family dynamics and running for office 5. Gender, party and political recruitment 6. 'I'm just not qualified': gender self-perceptions of candidate viability 7. Taking the plunge: deciding to run for office 8. Gender and the future of electoral politics.

Look Inside

Authors

Jennifer L. Lawless, American University, Washington DCJennifer Lawless received her Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2003. She is currently an assistant professor of political science at Brown University, with a courtesy appointment at the Taubman Center for Public Policy. Her teaching and research focus on gender politics, electoral politics, and public opinion. She has published numerous articles in academic journals, such as The American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Social Problems, and Women and Politics. She is also the lead author of a public policy report used by EMILY's List, Emerge, and the Women's Campaign School at Yale to help promote and recruit women candidates. Dr Lawless has become a recognized speaker on the subject of women candidates, frequently discussing these issues on national and local television and radio outlets.

Richard L. Fox, Union College, New YorkRichard L. Fox is an associate professor of political science at Union College. He has also taught or held positions at Rutgers University, University of California, Santa Barbara, College Year in Athens, California State University, Fullerton, and the University of Wyoming. He is the author of Gender Dynamics in Congressional Elections (1997) and Tabloid Justice: The Criminal Justice System in the Age of Media Frenzy (2001). He is also co-editor of Gender and Elections Change and Continuity Through 2004 (2005). He has authored or co-authored more than twenty articles and book chapters; his work has appeared in The Journal of Politics, American Journal of Political Science, Social Problems, Political Psychology, PS, Political Research Quarterly, and Public Administration Review. He has also written numerous articles, some of which have appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

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